Spanish notebook. Subjective view

“If you think about it, then between Spain and Russia there is a surprisingly much common. Both are the edge of Europe, one is Western, the other is eastern. Both peoples for many centuries have been under the oppression of other people"s conquerors: the Spaniards - Mavrov, Russians - the Mongols. In the history of each of them, two tyrants played (almost at the same time), the activities of which stopped the movement towards the revival and democracy for a long time: in Spain - Philip II, in Russia - Ivan IV. Both countries were torn apart by the civil wars that led to the power of the murderers and executioners: in Spain - Francisco Franco, in Russia - Joseph Stalin. And to this day in both countries, people continue to divide each other into conditional “red” and “white”.
Vladimir Pozner